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SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE 159: DIRECT MAIL MARKETING WITH POSTCARDS
Developing a steady flow of good prospective deals is key to any successful real estate investing enterprise. In this episode, Barry Coziahr, from PostcardMania, shares details of how real estate investors all over America are kickin’ it with postcard marketing that attracts solid sales leads that result in big revenue returns.
What You Will Learn
- How you can grow a business by only doing postcard direct mail
- The power of postcards over traditional letter direct mail marketing
- You only have 5 minutes before you will lose a customer when…
- When are 95% of people most likely to respond to an advertisement? 800 phone number? Website?
- How a real estate wholesaler is generating $60-100,000 in revenue a month sending yellow postcards
About Our Guest
Barry Coziahr
Barry Coziahr is the national speaker for PostcardMania, a full-service postcard marketing company specializing in lead generation. He is also the host of the small business marketing podcast Real Live Marketing. Barry has trained and consulted more than 10,000 small business owners and delivered over 1,000 seminars and workshops to small businesses across the United States. His presentations demonstrate proven marketing tactics using real-world examples and case studies to help small businesses and nonprofits market themselves successfully. PostcardMania offers complete marketing campaigns to companies of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. PostcardMania’s campaigns are fully turn-key. PostcardMania has been featured on the Inc. 500 and 5,000 lists as well as Forbes.com.
More About Barry
- Father was in sales and traveling buyer for suit companies
- At age 7, went door-to-door selling for school. Won contests
- His father became entrepreneur – had a number of small businesses in Peoria, IL
- Helped dad with advertising, sales and marketing
- Also did non-profit work
- Started his own business
About PostcardMania
- Been around since 1998
- Joy Gendusa, Founder & CEO
- $50 million a year in sales
- Privately held
- Over 200 employees
- Grew the company not by capital investment but by using marketing: started sending 1,000 postcards a week in 1998 and increased each time her profits went up. Today, they mail out 180,000 postcards a week
- She was one of the first providing free content for marketers
- Wrote a book on postcard marketing: Postcard Marketing in an Online World
- Doesn’t just sell postcards, they empower clients to succeed
- They track what works for each industry they work with and share that information with their clients
- One Stop Shop Services
- Consulting
- Help select target audience
- Best lists to reach that audience
- Provides lists (they screen and find the best list providers)
- Designs cards
- Color
- Yellow & Black
- Do the mailing (Post office has office at their facility)
- Set-up a website for you
- Set-up phone response service
- Consulting
- Very successful campaign with yellow postcard with black writing
Postcards vs. Envelopes
- Their postcard designers have 10-point check list to maximize impact
- With a postcard, the consumer will always get a sales message
- Headlines make the difference
- 2 out of 10 will only read the headlines
- Envelopes seldom have headlines
- Has info on their website to help you calculate your Return on Investment (ROI)
- Envelopes need bulk or something that gets the person to open the envelope
- Postcards are cheaper on postage, don’t have to pay for envelope and separate pieces
Direct Mail Tips
- Phone response: must make sure you can get back to people quickly
- Delayed response (over 5 minutes) less likely to close sale
- Website
- Must be a good website
- Must be responsive
- Good contact form
- Good information/content to keep them on the site
- 95% of interested people will go to a website before calling an 800 number
- You need to send repetitive mailing to the same list to get the best results
Costs of Postcard Marketing
- Minimum “bulk mail” quantities (200-500)
- Average cost of card $.05 per card
- Postage: $.18-27 per piece
- List prices need to be added as well
- Can also do:
- Pay-per-click
- Track phone number
- Design logos
Biggest Success
- Boost Detroit – 1100% on investment
- Another actual real estate postcard campaign
- Only marketing a real estate wholesaler is doing
- Mails to targeted “distressed” real estate properties list of 7,200
- Mails 15,000 “yellow” postcards per month
- Makes $60-100,000 revenue per month
- Special tracking phone number
Rap-it-Up
- Favorite business book: 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall
- Most valuable website for success: Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com
- Favorite App: Evernote (write to Barry for free tutorial)
- Favorite quote: “If you’re not first, you’re last.” Ricky Bobby and “If you can understand something very well you should be able to explain it to a 6-year-old.” Albert Einstein
- If you had to start all over, knowing what you know, and you only had $1,000, what would you do to launch your business?: Buy nice clothes. Buy a good book on sales. Go out and sell, sell, sell.
How to Reach Barry and PostcardMania
- Call: 855-980-5492
- Barry’s email: barryc@postcardmania.com
- Website: http://www.postcardmania.com
Barry’s Freebies!
- FREE report of successful real estate investment campaigns: postcardmania.com/reireport
- FREE samples of REI postcards: postcardmania.com/reipostcards
- A free copy of Joy’s book, Postcard Marketing in an Online World: Success Simplified: podcardmania.com/podcast
